No injuries after multiple trees fall near Masters patrons

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Multiple towering pine trees fell near Masters patrons as storms rolled through Augusta National on Friday, though nobody was injured as the second round of the Masters ground to a halt as play stopped for the day.

Another tree also fell elsewhere on the property.

The course had already been cleared once for 21 minutes when the first band of storms passed through the area. The air horn sounded again at 4:22 p.m. as another set of storms arrived, bringing heavy rains and the threat of lightning.

A few minutes prior to the horns sounding to stop play, multiple enormous pine trees fell about 10 to 15 yards ahead of the 17th tee box, sending the patrons in the area scattering for cover. On the nearby 16th green, Sergio Garcia stopped and stared at what seemed to be happening in slow motion, and playing partners Kazuki Higa and Keith Mitchell watched anxiously to see if anyone was hurt.

Larry Mize, Min Woo Lee and amateur Harrison Crowe had just teed off on 17 and were already walking up the fairway.

«We were cresting the fairway on 15. We thought it was a scoreboard or a grandstand,» said Sahith Theegala, who is playing in his first Masters. «We were hoping it wasn't something that hit anybody.»

Everyone escaped harm, but the close call was evidenced by several crushed chairs beneath the fallen pines.

«I was talking to friends next to me and all of sudden we heard a crack,» said Katie Waites, a patron from Charleston, South Carolina. «And there were three trees across the pond, and all of a sudden we saw them falling and everybody — it was just like ants. They were like, scattering just like ants from beneath. All three fell at the same time. And then I just grabbed my friends' hands we were like, 'Is everyone